Music-sheet shifter.



F. H. HARTZELL. MUSIC SHEET SHIFTER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 11, 1912. nmmwnn me. 22, 1913.

I 1,103,200. Patented July 14,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

%Z?W ifi y K m THE NORRIS PET ERS CO.. PHOTO LITHO. WASHINGTON. D. C.

F. H. HARTZELL.

I MUSIC SHEET SHIPTBR. APPLIOATION FILED mm: 17, 1912. annnwnn we. 22. me.

1,103,200. Patented July 14,1914L 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l mum Wm Ilium.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTGE.

FOREST H. HARTZELL, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE CROWN HARDWARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF IDA YTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

Application filed June 17, 1912, Serial No. 704,011. Renewed August 22, 1913.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 14, 1914:-

Serial No. 786,180.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Fonnsr H. HARTZELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music- Sheet Shifters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to musical instruments and particularly to mechanical piano players.

The invention relates to the pneumatlc type of mechanical players wherein the operation of the device is controlled by a traveling perforated master sheet and relates especially to means for controlling the movement of the master sheet during the winding and rewinding operation and also for laterally shifting said master sheet to bring the perforation into registry with predetermined air passages or ducts.

The object of the invention is to simplify the structure as well as the means and mode of operation of such devices whereby they will not only be cheapened in construction but will be more positive in operation, more eflicient in use, easily and quickly adjusted and unlikely to get out of repair.

A further object of the invention is to provide shifting mechanism for the winding and rewinding rolls whereby the perfo rations of the master sheet may not only be brought into registry with the air passages or ducts but may be adjusted to register with any one of the series of said ducts whereby the musical composition represented by the perforations of such master sheet may be played in any one of the several different keys. v With the above primary and other incidental objects in view as will more fully appear in the specification the invention consists of the features of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and the mode of operation, or their equivalents as hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of the assembled machine embodying the control mechanism forming the subject matter hereof, in its winding or normal operating position. Fig. 2 is a detail view of one of the cylindrical rack sleeves. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view of the manually operated shift member. Fig. ii: is a perspective view of the shift member assembled. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a modification of the shift mechanism.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughout the several views.

In the drawing, 1 is the main frame or housing and 2 is the tractor bar therein having in its surface the perforations 3 form ing the orifices of the several air passages or ducts which are opened and closed in predetermined sequence by the movement of the perforated master sheet 41 there across. During this operative movement the master sheet is wound from the roll 5 to the roll 6 with its perforations in registry with the orifices3 in the tracker bar 2. The winding and rewinding mechanism is actuated by an air motor which forms no part of the present invention. Secured to the. side of the housing 1 is a frame comprising the parallel lateral members 8 connected by the transverse ties 9 within which are journaled in suitable bearings the winding shaft 10 and the rewinding shaft 11. Journaled in the frame members 8 between the shafts 10 and 11 is the main drive shaft 13 driven from the actuating motor. Carried. by the main shaft 13 is a gear pinion 1 1 meshing with a gear 15 meshing with a gear 16 mounted upon the winding shaft 10. There is loosely j ournaled upon the drive shaft 13 a sprocket wheel 17 connected by a sprocket chain 18 with a corresponding sprocket 19 upon the rewinding shaft 11. The rewinding shaft 11 also carries a disk 20 forming a part of a brake mechanism hereafter mentioned. The gear pinion 1a is movable laterally into and out of engagement with the gear 15 and when disengaged from the gear 16 it is adapted to engage with the sprocket 17 by means of intermediate clutch mechanism whereby said sprocket 17 will be driven. The gear pinion 15 may be slidingly mounted upon the main shaft 13 and interengaged therewith by means of the usual feather or key whereby said gear pinion 15 may slide upon the shaft 13 or said gear pinion 15 may be secured rigid upon the shaft 13 and said shaft reciprocated within its bearings in addition to its revoluble movement. The sprocket 17 is held against lateral movement in unison with the shaft or with the gear pinion 15 by means of a stud 21 the head of which engages in a peripheral groove 22 in the hub of said sprocket.

In the drawing the gear pinion 15 and the sprocket wheel 17 have been shown as provided with studs or pins 23 which interenga-ge one with the other when the sprocket pinion has been shifted laterally out of engagement with the gear 16 and by their engagement drive the sprocket 17 as the 3. shaft 13 is rotated. It is obvious that any suitable form of shifting clutch mechanism may be substituted for the construction shown. Pivoted upon a bracket 24 carried by one of the side members 8 is a shift lever 15 25 having a stud 26 which engages a peripheral groove in the gear pinion 15 to shift said gear pinion into and out of engagement with the sprocket and gear.

Pivotally supported upon the bracket 2 1 are two oppositely extending brake levers 27 and 28 each carrying brake shoes 29. The brake shoes 29 of the brake lever 27 are adapted to engage the friction disk 20 carried upon the rewinding shaft 11 while the corresponding brake shoe of the other lever 28 engages the side of the gear 16 carried upon the winding shaft 10. The brake levers 27 and 28 are connected with the shift lever 25 by springs and 31 on oppo- 30 site sides of the pivoted point of said shift lever. When the shift lever is moved to the position shown in Fig. 1 causing the gear pinion to interengage with the gear 16 to rotate the winding shaft 10, the spring 30 is placed under tension and draws the shoe of the brake lever 27 into frictional contact with the disk 20 thereby retarding the rota tion of the shaft 11 and the master sheet 1 is withdrawn from the roll 5 and wound upon the roll 6 by the rotation of the winding shaft 10. The same movement of the shift lever 25 relaxes the tension upon the spring 31 thereby releasing the pressure of the shoe 29 of the brake lever 28 upon the gear 16 leaving the winding shaft 10 free to rotate. During this winding operation the winding shaft 10 is driven from the main drive shaft 13 through the gears 15 and 16. The rewinding shaft 11 being at the same time disconnected from the drive shaft 13 by the disengagement of the gear 15 from the sprocket 17 and the rewinding shaft 11 only rotates under the influence of the perforated sheet 4 as it is withdrawn from the 56 roll 5 and against the frictional resistance of the brake shoe 29 upon the disk 20.

After the perforated sheet has been passed from the roll 5 to the roll 6 across the perforated tracker bar 2 and it is desirous to return the perforated sheet 1 to the original roll 5, the shift lever 25 is oscillated. to the right in Fig. 1, thereby shifting the gear pinion 15 out of engagement with the gear 16 and into engagement with the sprocket 5b 17 with which it is engaged by intermediate clutch teeth or by the studs or pins 23 as shown in the drawing thereby causing the sprocket 17 to rotate in unison with the drive shaft 13. The same movement of the shift lever 25 relaxes the tension of the spring 30 thereby permitting the brake lever 27 to oscillate to release the frictional pressure of its shoe 29 upon. the disk 20 and at the same time the spring 31 is placed under tension thereby drawing the shoe 29 of the brake lever 28 into frictional engagement with the gear 16 upon the winding shaft 10. The rewinding shaft 11 is driven from the sprocket 17 through the chain 18 and sprocket 19 at an increased rate of speed due to the difference in size of the sprockets 17 and 19. The shoe 29 of the brake lever 27 being released from frictional engagement with the disk 20 permits the shaft 11 to rotate freely while at the same time the shoe of the brake lever 28 engaging the gear 16 retards the rotation of the shaft 10 as the perforated sheet 4 is withdrawn from the roll 0 and returned to the roll 5 thereby keeping the master sheet 4 under tension. It will thus be seen that the operation of shifting the gear pinion 15 into and out of engagement with the gear 16 automatically reverses the brake mechanism to retard either the winding shaft 10 or the rewinding shaft 11 according to the direction of movement of the master sheet.

The extremities of the shafts 10 and 11 project within the housing 1 and each carries a. sleeve 32 slidingly mounted upon the extremity of the shaft but engaged therewith by a suitable key or other connection whereby said sleeves 32 may reciprocate upon the shafts 10 and 11 but will rotate therewith. The rolls 5 and 6 are dctachably engaged with the sleeve 32 in any of the well known manners as now used for connecting the rolls of such mechanical players with their sumiorting and drive shafts. At their opposite ends the rolls are supported in any suitable yielding or compensating bearings such as the spring pressed sleeves 12 of Fig. 1, whereby the roll will be permitted to yield longitudinally while maintaining its engagement with. the bearing.

Each of the reciprocating sleeves 32 is provided with a series of parallel peripheral grooves 33 forming an annular gear rack. Journaled in suitable bearings carried in the housing 1 is a shaft 34 arranged at right angles to the shafts 10 and 11 and carrying gear pinions 35 which mesh with the annular gear teeth formed in the reciprocating sleeves 32 by the parallel peripheral grooves 33. At its lower extremity the shaft 34 is provided with a. sprocket wheel 36. The sprocket wheel 36 is connected by a sprocket chain 37 with suitable manually operated shift mechanism by which the shaft 34 may be rotated. This shaft mechanism is shown in detail in Fig. 3. It comp-rises a revoluble shaft or stud 38 having a head 39 the upper portion of which is tapered or conical as shown at 10. This revoluble stud 38 is mounted in a suitable bearing sleeve -11 secured in the frame of the housing 1. Located within the sleeve %1 and hearing at one end on the under side of the head 39 and at its opposite end on the bottom wall of the sleeve 41 is a helical spring 12 tending to move the revoluble shaft or stud 38 upward. Secured to the upper face of the frame bar of the housing 1 is a plate &3 havingtherein an opening through which the tapered or conical portion 10 of the stud head projects. 'The Opening in the plate is preferably tapered to correspond with the head of the stud. The diameter of the opening in the plate a3 is of less dimension than the extreme diameter of the head of the stud thereby preventing the escape of the stud from its bearing within. the sleeve 41.. The spring 412 presses the revoluble stud 38 upward with its tapered head 10 firmly in engagement with the retaining plate 43 thereby affording frictional resistance to the r-evoluble movement of the stud. At its upper extremity the revoluble stud is provided with an operating lever 14% by which th stud 38 may be rotated. One extremity of the operating lever L-et is bent downward as at 45 and is adapted to engage projecting ears 46 on the retaining plate 43 at each limit of its stroke to limit the rotary movement of the stud 38. The stud 38 carries at its lower extremity a sprocket wheel 41-7 connected by the sprocket chain 37 with the sprocket 36 of the shaft 34 before mentioned. In operating the mechanism the stud 38 is first pressed downward against the tension of the spring 4L2 by pressure ap plied to the operating lever 14 which downward movement releases the frictional engagement of the tapered head 40 with the retaining plate l3 after which the stud 38 be rotated by the operating lever 44 to the desired position. This rotary move ment of the stud 38 acts through the sprocket wheel 47, the sprocket chain 37 and the sprocket 36 to rotate the vertical shaft 34 carrying with it the gear pinions 35, and thereby transmitting a reciprocatorv movement to the sliding sleeves The con tinuous parallel circumferential grooves 33 of the sleeves 32 permit the said sleeves to rotate with the shafts 10 and 11 independent of the gear pinions 35 and while said gear pinions 35 remain at rest maintaining their engagement with the grooves 33 and thereby retaining the sleeves 32 in their adjusted position. The gear pinions 35 in no way interfere with the rotation of the sleeves 32. By rotating the gear pinions 35 to shift the sleeves 32 longitudinally upon the-shaft extremities the rolls 5 and 6 may be shifted laterally to bring the perforations of the master sheet 1 into registry with different orifices of the air conduits or passages. The sheet may be readily shifted through a range of several conduits or passages thereby enabling the operator to change the key in which the composition is being played.

Inasmuch as the reciprocat-o-ry movement of the sleeves 32 is independent of their supporting shafts 10 and 11, it will be obvious that such lateral adjustment of the master sheet may be accomplished without varying the tension or pressure of the frictional shoes 29 upon the disk 20 or upon the gear 16, or varying the speed of the rolls. In Fig. 5 there has been shown a modification. of the manually operated shifting mechanism wherein the vertical shaft 3 1 is provided with a lateral arm 48 connected by a link 49 with one arm of the pivoted lever 50 mounted upon the frame or base of the housing 1. The lever 50 carries a stud 51 adapted to project through a suitable arcuate slot in the base or frame of the housing 1 and the said stud carries a thumb nut 52 whereby the lever 50 may be secured in its adjusted position. A swinging movement of the control lever 50 will be transmitted through the link 49 and arm 48 to the vertical shaft 34, thereby causing a partial rota tion of the gear pinions 35 carried by said shaft 3%, which by their engagement with the parallel circumferential grooves 33 of the sleeves 32 will reciprocate said sleeves 32 upon the shafts l0 and 11 in the manner and for the purpose before mentioned.

From the above description it will be apparent that there is thus produced a music sheet shifter of the character described, possessing the particular features of advantages before enumerated as desirable, but which obviously is susceptible of modification in its form, proportion, detail construction and arrangement of parts, without departing from the principle involved or sacrificing any of its advantages.

While in order to comply with the statute, the invention has been herein described in language more or less specific as to structural features, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to any specific details, but that the means and mechanism herein described, comprise but one mode of putting the invention into effect, and the invention is therefore claimed broadly in any of its possible forms or modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim;

1. In a winding mechanism for music sheets, a receiving and a supply roll, winding and rewinding shafts by which the rolls are actuated, said shafts being incapable of longitudinal movement, and means to shift said receiving and supply rolls longitudinally independent of the winding and rewinding shafts while maintaining operative engagement therewith, substantially as specified.

2. In a winding mechanism for music sheets, a receiving and a supply roll, winding and rewinding shafts by which said rolls are alternately actuated, said shafts being incapable of longitudinal movement, reciprocating couplings between the rolls and shafts and means to reciprocate said couplings in relation to the shafts while maintaining a revoluble driving engagement therewith whereby said rolls may be adjusted longitudinally independent of said shafts, substantially as specified.

8. In a winding mechanism for music sheets, a receiving and a supply roll, winding and rewinding shafts by which said rolls are alternately actuated, said shafts being incapable of longitudinal movement, sleeves slidingly mounted upon said shafts but adapted to rotate in unison therewith and adapted to engage the rolls, and means for slidingly adjusting said sleeves upon the shafts independent of their revoluble movement whereby said rollswill be longitudinally adjusted, substantially as specified.

4. In a winding mechanism for music sheets, a receiving and a supply roll, winding and rewinding shafts by which said rolls are alternately actuated, sleeves splined upon said shafts whereby they may be longitudinally adjusted thereon but are rotated in unison therewith and adapted to engage the rolls, peripheral rack teeth formed in said sleeves, gear pinions engaging said peripheral rack teeth, and means to manually rotate said gear pinions to reciprocate the sleeves upon the shafts whereby the rolls will be longitudinally adjusted, substantially as specified.

In a winding mechanism, a receiving and a supply roll, winding and rewinding shafts actuating said rolls, sleeves carried by said shafts and longitudinally movable thereon but revoluble therewith, means for engaging the rolls with said sleeves, said sleeves having therein a plurality of parallel peripheral grooves, a control shaft, gear pinions carried by said shaft and engaging in the peripheral grooves of the sleeves whereby an oscillation of said shaft and the gears carried thereby will cause a corresponding reciprocatory movement of the sleeves to adjust the said rolls longitudinally independent of their actuating shafts, substantially as specified.

' 6. In a winding mechanism, a driven member, a drive shaft, interengaging means between the drive shaft and driven member including a sleeve slidingly mounted on the shaft but adapted to b rotated in unison therewith, said sleeve having a series of parallel peripheral grooves therein, a gear pinion engaging in the said peripheral grooves and means to rotate the gear pinion whereby the sleeve may be shifted longitudinally upon the shaft independent of its revoluble movement, substantially as specified.

7. In a winding mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven member movable longitudinally in relation to the drive shaft, a sleeve having a plurality of peripheral beads formed thereon, said sleeve being movable longitudinally in unison with the driven member and being further revoluble in unison with the drive shaft, and an adjustable toothed member engaging the peripheral beads of the sleeve, and means to adjust said toothed member, substantially as specified.

8. In a winding mechanism, a drive shaft, a driven member movable longitudinally in relation to the drive shaft, means to shift the driven member including a manually operated oscillatory shaft, capable of a longitudinal movement in addition to its oscillatory movement, a tapered head carried by said shaft, a recessed fixed member into the recess of which the tapered head projects, a spring tending to press the tapered head into engagement with the fixed member, and connecting means between the said shift device and the driven member, substantially as specified.

9. In a winding mechanism, a drive shaft, a driven member movable longitudinally in relation to the drive shaft, a manually operated control means comprising an oscillatory stud capable of longitudinal movement in addition to its revoluble movement, a spring tending to move said stud longitudinally to maintain it in its adjusted position, and an operative connection between the control means and driven member, substantially as specified.

10. In a winding mechanism, a drive shaft, a driven member movable longitudinally in relation to the drive shaft, a manually operated control means comprising an oscillatory stud capable of longitudinal movement in addition to its revoluble movement, said stud being adapted to cause the shifting movement of the driven member by its rotary adjustment and to be locked in its adjusted position by its longitudinal movement, substantially as specified.

11. In a winding mechanism, a drive shaft, a driven member movable longitudinally in relation to the drive shaft, a manually operated control means comprising an oscillatory stud capable of longitudinal movement in addition to its revoluble movement, a clutch adapted to maintain the stud in its adjusted position controlled by the longitudinal movement of the stud, and connections between the stud and driven of the stud will cause a shifting movement ofthe driven member in a longitudinal direction, substantially as specified.

12. In an apparatus as described, a roll, an actuating shaft therefor in axial alinement With the roll, said roll being adjustable in a longitudinal direction independent of the actuating shaft While maintaining rotary driving connection therewith, and means for controlling the longitudinal movement of the roll.

13. In an apparatus as described, a roll, an actuating shaft therefor, a tensioned brake device controlling the rotary movement of the shaft and thereby the roll, and a Variable connection between the shaft and roll whereby the roll may be adjusted in a Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the longitudinal direction independent of the actuating shaft and brake device.

14. In an apparatus as described, a roll capable of both revoluble and longitudinal movement, a brake mechanism controlling the revoluble movement of the roll, said roll being capable of longitudinal adjustment, Without varying the relation of the members of the brake mechanism, and means controlling the longitudinal adjustment of the roll.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 26 day of May, 1912.

FOREST H. HARTZELL.

lVitnesses:

EFFIE B. LUT'rsINGER, EZRA M. KUHNs.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). 0. 

